The Hours

Well, hellloooo. I've been busy, busy, busy.  How much would I love a long break like the Moussester- the thought of a whole month off work sounds absolutely glorious. You know, I always marvel at the people who win vast sums of money in the lottery, and then announce they are still going to work every day at their old job as a butcher, cleaning lady, traffic warden, etc.   Because otherwise, they might get bored!  To which I say, puhleeeze.  That is so not my way of thinking.  If I won enough to live on, there is no way I would keep working; indeed, I would be out of there so fast it would make my employer's head spin.  There would be a little puff of smoke where my fat office ass used to be and the next time anybody saw me, I would be enjoying the largesse of my winnings in an appropriate style.

Speaking of working, one of the reasons I have been so busy is that I was toying with the idea of working a slightly different pattern.  Where I work, there's a reasonable amount of flexibility for employees to tailor their own hours, to the extent that it is allowable to work the normal contracted hours in a four day week.  What this means of course is that you have four verrrrrry long days and then an extra day off per week.

I thought this sounded rather appealing; with a four day week, I could devote the time out of the office doing enjoyable, life expanding activities.  Writing my novel, for example, which continues to wither under the brunt of the full time employment elsewhere. And the beauty of it would be I would continue to earn the same amount of money and get the same amount of holidays.  A win-win all around.

However, enticing as it may appear, I knew that not that many people actually attempt this.  And this week I discovered why. You see, rather sagely, I decided it might be a good idea to do a little informal experiment before I actually undertook to sign up for this working pattern.  So for the last two weeks or so, I have tried to complete the hours that would be required to compress my work week into four days.

And I failed dismally!  I couldn't do it at all. For starters, I can never manage to get in early enough to get the appropriate jump on the day, and then inevitably there would be a reason why I needed to leave in the evening before compensating for the relatively late start. Plus, by the time I would actually get home, I'd be so tired that absolutely nothing else would get done- no laundry, no cleaning, no paying of bills, and of course, no blogging- thus all of that would need to be crammed into the spare spaces of the extra day. Leaving no time for the all the other ambitious stuff I wanted to do.

Well, duh, some of you might be saying. No doubt that would seem obvious from the outset. I guess I overestimated my energy levels, which wane and wane and wane as I get older. Still, having completed my little experiment, I can knowingly scratch that off the options list as a way forward- and there is something so satisfying about making the informed choice, isn't there? 

Now, where did I put that lottery ticket?

Comments

[Cricket]

I remember working third shift and working 8 days out of 10. By the end of the shit (oops, true Freudian slip), I was all errors and chose to go back to 10 days.

Have you considered working 9 days out of 10? I have a neighbor who has every other Monday off. Maybe once you got used to that, you could shoot for 8.

[Pamplemousse]

Mare, it sounds as if you work in a very similar environment to me. I know a few people who work these hours but you are right, it can be gruelling. Doing 9 and a bit hour days does not appeal to me. Mind you, most of the time, doing 7 and a bit hour days is beyond me hence the 4 weeks off work hehe.

Cue protestations now from all the lawyers across the pond who work 12 hours per day. Eeek.

PS that lottery ticket is mine, all mine!!!

[Mary Scarlet]

Yeah, I can relate. This has sounded appealing but I have the same problem. A co-worker of mine has a good compromise: he works 4.5 days a week so they're only slightly longer days than normal. Getting up early has never been my forte.

[Jill]

We do a 9 day fortnight where I work, so I get every second Friday off. Same sort of thing as Cricket has already suggested. This format means you only work an extra 45 mins per day to make up for the 10th day being a day off - much easier to manage!

[DebbieS]

I want to know what moron came up with working five days out of seven in the first place! Honestly, if we could all work four instead, there would probably be less air pollution, road rage and general crankiness. I think that working Monday-Tuesday, for example, with Wednesdays off, and returning to work with only two more days to conquer before the weekend, would be lovely.

Who's coming with me??

[Alexa]

I laughed SO HARD at this: from January until last week I was attempting a "flex schdule" wherein one week I worked a normal 8.5 hrs/day and the next week I got Tuesday off but worked 10.5 hrs/day the rest of the week to make up for it. Last week I finally buckled under the pressure and went back to my normal schedule.
Let me know how the lottery ticket plan works out...

[Toni]

Funny...I actually start my new schedule in the morning. I was working from 5:30 - 3pm...now I'm going to work from 5:00 - 3:30 - figure that an extra hour won't kill me. We'll see how long this lasts (I'm only in the office 3 days - so I'm used to the 9 hour days!).

[thalia]

Unfortunately there is no concept of hours at my place. You just work til the work is done. Makes it hard to make any flex programme work. Sorry that your experiment didn't work. I buy the lottery ticket every week, too...

[Truly Tested]

Mare, I know what you mean. I fantasize about the 4-day work week, or better yet, the 3-day work week with nice long weekends in between. But I'm sure that compressing all that work into fewer days is stressful and very hard to accomplish. I've also heard that many people who work 4 days often end up working that 5th day and not getting paid for it. I like the gradual approach people are suggesting to you and in the meantime, you can cross something off your list and onto the next adventure!

[Tiffanni]

Well, you tried. It does sound quite tiring.

[Kay]

We work 9 hours 4 days a week, and 4 hours on Friday. It's quite lovely.

I hope you find something that works for you.